Saskatchewan’s top doctor explains new COVID report format

Saskatchewan is once again reporting COVID-19 information in a new way.

As of last Thursday, the Ministry of Health launched a new report — the Community Respiratory Illness Surveillance Program (CRISP) — to give the public information on case rates, hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 and respiratory illnesses, including influenza.

According to the province’s website, the report “standardizes the epidemiological information required for respiratory illness surveillance and risk management.”

Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, said the new report format didn’t come out of the blue.

He said in the summer, there was really only a bit of COVID going around, and not really any other respiratory viruses. He said the province took the position that “once there’s something to report on, we’ll start publishing the CRISP report.”

Shahab said fall months are when respiratory infections become more prevalent, and flu clinics begin in October.

“For the fall and winter months, we expect to report on COVID and other respiratory infections,” the province’s top doctor explained.

He said the bi-weekly reports will be sufficient, because there isn’t a dramatic change in information from week to week. In fact, Shahab said a monthly report structure would likely suffice as the test positivity rate often remains relatively unchanged between weeks.

“It shouldn’t really change your behaviour,” Shahab said, though he noted that with more respiratory illness around during the colder months, some might choose to spend the season being more careful with their health.

Shahab encouraged people to continue to partake in individual risk assessment, measuring factors like age and other health risks.

“If I’m older, if I’m concerned about getting COVID because I have underlying risk factors, I’m immune-suppressed, I should wear a mask maybe more frequently than if I’m younger and don’t have the same risk profile,” Shahab said.

The report will be available bi-weekly, with the next report set to be issued Oct. 27.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick